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Google and Adidas unveil a 'Talking Shoe' at SXSW

Published on March 14, 2013.
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Ready for your shoes to judge your lazy butt? Google has you covered. The company, along with Adidas and agency 72andSunny, unveiled "The Talking Shoe" at SXSW this week. It tracks your speed and performance -- and more disconcerting, gives you aural props or smack on how you're doing, from a microcontroller-connected speaker on the shoe. The sneaks also use Bluetooth to sync up with a smartphone and, in a refreshingly conversational tone, will give you words of encouragement, or advice to slow down and grab a snack. Of course, you'll be able to share what your kicks say and what you're doing on the social web. Google told Engadget that it doesn't plan to actually sell the sneakers, although it is considering making the technology open source.

Part of Google's "Art, Copy & Code" initiative, which reimagines advertising (and has previously worked with Volkswagen,) the shoe is another piece of wearable tech from the makers of Google Glass.